Western Isles Council only have £12k left in the gritting budget

The stark warning came after a report from officers to the Comhairle’s Transport and Infrastructure committee this week confirmed that the authority had already spent £1.4m of its winter maintenance budget leaving just £12k in the budget until the end of the financial year.

A report to the committee stated that while there had been little gritting activity in October and November, there had been a “significant increase in activity” in December and January, hitting the budget.

Councillors on the committee agreed recommendations in the report that will now see the Comhairle’s Head of Property and Infrastructure further develop options for “in-house” delivery of the service “as a means of managing costs”.

Members of the committee also backed a recommendation that the current priorities of the winter service be maintained for the contract period 2022-26 subject to the annual review.

The report stated that the Comhairle had included a reduction of £250k from the Winter Maintenance Budget in its Corporate Business Plan Actions and that options for making the budget savings were presented to the Transportation and Infrastructure Strategic Member Officer Working Group on 15 December 2020.

“The general opinion” of that meeting, the report added, was that a reduction of service “would not be acceptable” and that “the focus should be on managing costs through a further review of the delivery mechanisms”.

During the Transport and Infrastructure committee meeting, a number of councillors raised concerns over routes in their wards that had experienced problems due to a lack of gritting in recent weeks.

Councillors from across the islands also praised the work of the gritting staff and teams, who in recent weeks they said had worked in very difficult conditions to keep the service running.

The Comhairle’s Director of Assets, Finance and Resources warned the meeting that the authority did not have the resources available to make significant changes.